Bad Dream
by Amara777
Summary: A sequel or what if scenario of "Selfish". You woke up panting, your eyes wide and your body broken out into a cold sweat. You looked at the date and time. Yes, there was still time...time to save L.


Oh my god!

It's a bird!

No, wait, it's a plane!

No, no…Could it be…? It is!

**IT IS A SEQUEL~!**

……Or at least a "what if" scenario. I figure every one of you need this L fantasy after "Selfish". Enjoy!

Oh, and Happy 2010! Let's hope this first fic of '10 is as good as the ones in '09.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, and I did not write this for financial profit. This is purely for entertainment.**

**Bad Dream**

**ReaderxL**

You woke up panting, your eyes wide and your body broken out into a cold sweat.

You sat up and looked at your digital clock, which had the time and date on it in bright red lights.

_November 4, 2004_

_4:50 a.m._

You sighed to yourself, smiling with relief. It had been a dream—no, a nightmare. You hadn't been fired and rejected from L. L and Watari were not dead.

_Yet._

Your eyes widened at the voice that hissed in your mind, like a warning. The logical part of you wanted to shake it away, but the dream was still fresh in your mind. You kept wondering, _"_What if it's true?" and what it meant if it was true.

Fear settled in inside your stomach, making you feel uncomfortable in the room all alone. So you got up from your bed, and started for L's hotel room, because he always comforted you if things felt wrong. He was just a few rooms away from yours, so it was an easy walk.

"L?" you asked softly, tentatively knocking on the door.

There was silence from the other side of the door.

And then…

"Yes, (Name)?"

You refrained from sighing with relief. "Is it alright if I come in for a little bit?"

"………Yes, go ahead."

You opened the door to see L sitting on his bed, in his usual position. His posture was as bad as ever, and his voice sounded the same. There seemed to be nothing different at all about him…

Except his eyes.

They absolutely floored you when you met L's eyes.

And not in the _good_ way, like they usually did.

L may have still been in front of you, his heart beating and his lungs taking in oxygen, but his eyes were dull and lifeless. He blinked at you, trying to hide his expression, but you saw, even if it had been brief.

You swallowed nervously. "I-is everything all right, L?" At his silence, you shakily added, "I-I m-mean, is there anything I can get you, or—?"

"No." L shook his head slowly. "There's nothing wrong, (Name)."

Even though it was an obvious dismissal, you still walked closer to him anyway, and then you joined him on the bed. It was almost as if you wanted to reassure yourself, to make sure that L wasn't going to disappear right in front of your eyes. You didn't dare touch him though. Not only because L might get uncomfortable, but you didn't want to risk the chance of just feeling air.

L looked at you questioningly. "Is there something the matter, (Name)?"

You bit your lip. "I…had a bad dream."

"Oh."

A pause.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

It was probably unwise to speak of it. It could throw him off his guard with the Kira case. Then again, what threw _L_ off guard? The man was a genius—an arrogant asshole of a genius who just so happened to be right a majority of the time, but a genius all the same, you had to give him credit for that. Besides, maybe he could comfort you in some way, though it might not be the way you wanted (don't lie, I know some of you are perverts out there).

"I dreamt…that you died."

You watched him nervously, trying to read his reactions.

L just blinked, his face blank.

"I see."

You both stared into each other's eyes silently. Finally, the detective sighed.

"(Name), I'm going to die eventually. You are aware of this, correct?"

Tears pricked your eyes and your lips shook. "Yeah, but, L," you swallowed the lump in your throat. "It's more than that! I had the chance to save you, but I was too stupid to notice because I was too caught up in my anger and sadness from you firing me. If I had noticed sooner, I could have saved you, but I didn't! And worst of all, I didn't even find out your death until later, like a month later or something! I wasn't even there when you and Watari died...I felt as if I abandoned the two of you, and it hurt, because the two of you are important to me…and…and…"

You broke off sobbing harshly, your tears streaming down your face. You put hands over your eyes to try and stop your crying, but the tears didn't stop. They kept on flowing.

To your shock, you felt an arm wrap itself around your body and pull you close to a clothed chest. You suddenly smelled the remnants of cake and some Earl Grey tea. You even felt a chin rest itself on your head.

Without looking up, you timidly said, "I thought you hated touching people."

"I'll make an exception this one time," L said softly, his hold tightening somewhat.

You thanked him softly and hugged him back, but not too tightly because you didn't want to disturb L, or the moment. This was probably the closest you would ever get to your employer, so you decided to try to calm down and savor the moment. You rested your head against where L's heart, which pumped out blood in steady beats. It soothed you, though you still felt upset. At least your tears lessened, somewhat.

You inhaled and exhaled calming breaths, unintentionally inhaling L's scent, and then you felt yourself smiling, slowly. Your eyes even felt heavy, and you closed your eyes briefly to savor the closeness. Surprisingly, L's body was warm. Not like summer warm, or even late spring, but it wasn't as cold as you probably thought it was (there went the Vampire theory). Almost against your will, you cuddled closer to him.

(You are in love. I believe you are allowed to self indulge yourself for just a little bit, because I'm sure none of you would pass this opportunity up.)

"Are you enjoying yourself, (Name)?"

Your eyes snapped open when you heard L's voice, which had an irritatingly amusing tone. Then you sat up and looked up at him, realizing where you were. L had pulled you into a hug, sprawling you in between his legs, which were stretched out slightly in front of him. It was a dream come true for you, yet also probably one of the most embarrassing moments of your life.

Your face glowed as you separated yourself from him, as if he was on fire. You didn't look at him (you couldn't), but you felt his eyes on you, and that made your face burn hotter than it ever had before.

"I-I'm sorry," you said shakily. "I—I just, I mean—oh shit…"

You didn't see, but L's lips twitched slightly, creating a ghost of a smile. Then his smile became a smirk.

"Please, (Name) don't stop on _my_ account," he teased. "It's in my benefit as well. After all, this will be the first time a woman has _ever_ warmed my bed."

You blushed furiously, even as you glared up at him. "Th-that was not what I was trying to do, L!" Then _you_ smirked. "And I know that's a lie. I bet you'd sleep with anyone if it benefited you in anyway."

L shrugged, unfazed. "True."

"And I bet that even included Naomi Misora," you added in a slightly bitter afterthought.

You didn't hate Naomi Misora*. She trained you in capoeira, after all (plus, she had been engaged). But during the BB Murder Case, you couldn't help but think that the older woman would be better suited to team up with L, rather than you.

L hummed, and then made a face. "Not likely. I don't seduce women I respect. It wouldn't feel right."

You looked as confused as you felt. Did that mean that L respected you, or was he just messing with you?

"Sexual jabs aside," he said, "do you feel better now (Name)?"

You blinked up at him and found that yes; you did feel better, at least somewhat. Despite yourself, a small smile broke out on your face as you looked at L.

"Yeah," you said. "I think I do kind of feel better."

L smiled down at you. "Good." His face went stern again. "Now, go get some sleep. You will need your rest for tomorrow."

You blinked, bemused. That was a little odd. Usually L only limited your sleeping to two hours at least. Why was he ordering you to get your full sleep now…?

Then again, should you really complain?

You got up from the bed and smiled at L. "Thank you L."

You didn't want it to be, but did you want to take that chance?

_No._

Your eyes narrowed with determination.

_There's still time. I can still stop it from happening._

You quietly sauntered off to the Task Force headquarters, where Higuchi's Death Note was held.

It was time you met the Shinigami Rem.

—Epilogue, a month later, in L's own headquarters—

As he sat on his chair, L glared ahead as he munched his cake.

"You're fired, (Name)."

From behind him, you rolled your eyes, and sighed. "L, come on. You can't still be upset about it."

Watari smiled at you wryly. "Of course he is, (Name)."

"But why?! I saved your lives! If anything, I should be thanked…or at least getting a raise."

"Yes, you did." Watari smiled gratefully. "But think about how you did it."

You thought. "Okay, I touched the Death Note, met with Rem, made the deal…"

"You never actually went into detail about that part though."

"Oh right. Well, it was actually on pure luck, believe it or not." You recalled. "At first I threatened to kill Light Yagami by writing in the Death Note, but she had no reaction. Actually, I think she hated him.

"Anyway, out of desperation, I decided to threaten _Misa_. That got Rem furious—said she'd kill me as soon as I was done. So, that's when I made the deal, basically: Don't kill L and Watari, and I will make sure Misa won't get arrested."

Watari raised his eyebrow. "As for Misa's memory getting erased again?"

"That was Rem's own personal touch. She'd rather have Misa forget everything involving the Death Note—including Light and her—than help leading to Misa's 'inevitable demise'—whatever _that_ means."

You smiled victoriously at Watari. "You pretty much know what happened next."

"Yes; when the time came for L and mine's supposed deaths, and nothing happened, Light Yagami had a huge mental breakdown, unintentionally revealing that he was Kira.

"But, before we could arrest him, he had a heart attack on the spot."

You nodded. "Yeah—that was a little confusing. 'If Light was Kira, then _who killed him_?' was the question brought up by Matsuda, I believe.

"But then Rem told us of Light's Shinigami, who was only aiding Light for his own amusement. Once Light was caught, he was no longer amusing, and so, the other Shinigami killed him."

Watari nodded. L continued to pout with his back facing the two of you.

"But I still don't understand why L's upset," you said.

"Well, try thinking of it this way, (Name)." The old man smiled, "Say, you are a like a competitive child—let's call you Child A. You run into another competitive child—we'll call him Child B—whose mind and personality matches yours.

"The two children engage in a game—a dangerous one, but a game nonetheless. At first, it seems Child B is winning, but Child A continues to stand his ground, because _he_ alone wants to be the winner.

"Then, another child is added to mix—we'll call her Child C. She gets in between the two children, though her side is obviously on Child A's.

"However, Child C eventually shows both Child A and B how unpredictable she is—by going against Child A's word and taking matters into her own hands.

"In the end, neither Child A or B is the winner. The winner of the game is Child C."

You stared at Watari for a few minutes, taking in his allegory in.

And then you slowly turned to gape at L's hunched back with an open mouth.

"You're kidding." You cast a look at Watari. "Watari, please tell me you're joking."

Amusement glinted in his gray eyes. "Nope."

"……So, what you're basically telling me is that L's upset because I'm the 'winner', and he's _not_?!"

"You basically succeeded where he would have most likely failed—and he knows it too."

You gripped the sides of your head, nearly pulling your hair out. "I can't believe this! I know he's a childish man, but this is too much."

Watari's shoulders slumped with mock regret. "I suppose it's partially my fault. I've spoiled him too much—and now he's become _this_."

They didn't see, but L's left eye started twitching as he shoved a forkful of cake into his mouth.

"I know," you cried out melodramatically. "And just think, you're leaving _me_ with this man-child when you retire."

The twitch got worse.

"Ah, yes, (Name), I deeply apologize."

Twitch.

"It's okay, Watari. I know it's not all _your_ fault."

_Twitch._

"But seriously, it's bad enough I have to deal with babies in my family—now I have to deal with a big baby for a boss."

"I hope you both realize that I can hear you," L finally said, his voice monotone, as usual.

"**We know." **Both you and Watari chuckled.

As you and Watari continued chatting, L secretly cast a glance at the two of you, and then he turned back to his computer screen.

He clicked on the file titled, "Final Note—November 4, 2004".

He read it briefly, and then turned slightly to look at two of the most important people in his life, paying close attention to you in particular.

Then, with a small, soft smile, L deleted the file.

He didn't need it after all.


End file.
